Delicate dreams disturb the slumber.

Returning to the restaurant, looking at the vague figure behind the screen, my feelings were somewhat complicated.

As expected of a wealthy elite, dining in such a fine hotel was completely free of charge.

No wonder he had assumed she was trying to cozy up to him and climb the social ladder.

Pulling herself together, Lin Xia returned to her seat and complained to Jin Ye, who clearly had already finished eating: "Didn't we agree that I was treating? Why did you pay instead?"

Jin Ye sat there quietly, with neat, short hair, sharply defined facial features, and a silver-striped shirt. Perhaps because it was after work, he wore no tie, and the collar was slightly open, revealing his tough, well-defined collarbones.

Such a man truly made one's heart flutter.

It was just a pity.

She hadn't expected Lin Xia to be so thorough as to think of paying in advance. Jin Ye explained, "I have a platinum VIP card, so dining here is free. I'll treat this time, and you can treat the next."

Lin Xia replied with an assent, though she felt quite dismissive inwardly.

Given how things stood between them, could she really bring herself to brazenly crawl back to him?

"Are you full? Let's go then." Glancing casually at the mostly untouched dishes before her, Lin Xia silently sighed what a waste.

Looking at Jin Ye's accustomed expression, Lin Xia kept muttering to herself—being wasteful is shameful, absolutely shameful!

Stepping out of the hotel, she noticed Lin Xia acting sluggish and sitting lazily in the passenger seat, looking completely devoid of energy.

Jin Ye asked, "What's wrong? Are you tired? It's getting late, I'll drive you back so your family doesn't worry, plus you have classes tomorrow."

Looking at the man's high nasal bridge and well-shaped lip line, Lin Xia nodded. She wasn't physically tired; her heart was just exhausted.

Even so, should she give him the gift in her bag or not?

If she gave it to him, he would misunderstand her motives even further; if she didn't, she had already bought it, and none of the people she knew had any use for such an item.

Lin Xia remained conflicted the entire way until they hit a red light.

Cross the intersection ahead, make a turn, and she would be home.

Screw it! Since his impression of her was already ruined anyway, she might as well give it to him!

With that thought, Lin Xia steeled her resolve, pulled a small brocade box from her bag, and placed it on the dashboard right in front of Jin Ye. "I bought this small gift at Guomao earlier. It might not be very expensive, but it's just a token of my appreciation for your help during this period."

Looking at the sleek, minimalist jet-black brocade box before him, Jin Ye paused in surprise.

He hadn't expected her to prepare a gift.

This was the first time anyone had ever given him a gift for non-work-related reasons.

The green light turned on, and the car started moving. His dark, ink-like eyes fixed on Lin Xia. "Thank you."

Noticing those thick, long eyelashes, Lin Xia laughed self-deprecatingly. "I should be the one thanking you for helping my family with such a huge problem."

Jin Ye turned his head non-committally and focused on the road ahead.

As the car pulled up just outside the residential complex, Lin Xia quickly said, "Stop right here, you don't need to drive inside." As she spoke, she unbuckled her seatbelt.

The car stopped, and Lin Xia pushed open the door. "Thank you so much for today. The food was delicious."

With that, she glanced at her wristwatch. "It's already so late. I'm truly sorry for taking up so much of your time."

"Don't say sorry." With his back to the light, most of his face was cast in shadow, radiating an oppressive and mysterious aura. "If you were bothering me, I wouldn't have accepted the invitation. So don't say sorry. I had a pleasant time today. Go on inside, I'll get going."

Lin Xia fell silent for a moment, then stammered, "Then... bye-bye."

"Goodbye." With a sharp turn of the steering wheel, he merged onto the main avenue and quickly vanished into the flowing traffic.

Long after his car had driven away, Lin Xia still stood there, gazing blankly down the main road.

He had said he was very happy tonight, yet why had he barely spoken and kept such a stern face the whole time?

Even so, one thing Lin Xia could be certain of was—

Even she herself didn't know when her heart had quietly begun to draw closer to him.

No need to hold hands and ask of the fleeting years; snapping orchid and carving jade as the apricot flowers greet the dusk!

Ring, ring, ring—

The phone rang, startling Lin Xia back to reality. "Hello—"

"Xiaxia, it's so late, why aren't you back yet?"

"Coming, coming! I'm already downstairs, I'll be right up." Hanging up the phone, she walked toward the apartment complex.

Upon returning home, Jin Ye took the brocade box out from inside his coat, tossed the coat onto the sofa, and walked into the bedroom.

If Lin Xia were present now, she would surely find the arrangement of this room intimately familiar.

The room featured dark-toned decor, spacious and minimalist. A king-size bed faced a massive floor-to-ceiling window, its light gray curtains pulled open and hooked onto white fasteners.

The only difference from her dream was that outside the window, there was no sound of the rising and falling ocean tides, only the brilliant glow of neon city lights.

Taking a bath the moment he returned home was a habit Jin Ye had maintained for years.

Unbuttoning his shirt cuffs, Jin Ye's hand moved toward his collar.

The top button of his collar had already been undone long ago, leaving his tough, well-defined collarbones faintly visible.

Following the neckline, his slender fingers slowly undid the second button, followed by the third and the fourth.

Thus, as the buttons were undone, first his collarbones were revealed, then his chest, and finally the abdominal muscles beneath the shirt.

When he was dressed, his physique wasn't particularly obvious; he just looked evenly proportioned. But once the clothes came off, the raw explosive power hidden beneath those sculpted muscles became immediately apparent.

He was someone who trained seriously and definitely knew how to throw a punch.

He tossed the discarded shirt onto a small sofa nearby, then moved his hands downward, unbuckling his belt without a pause. His trousers slid down, revealing strong, long legs.

His skin was a healthy wheatish tone. As he walked toward the bathroom, Jin Ye glanced briefly at the full-length mirror not far away, looking over his own physique with a sense of quiet satisfaction.

The bathroom was massive, with the bathtub alone taking up nearly a quarter of the space—it was immensely luxurious.

It was just a pity Jin Ye had never used it; what a waste.

He turned on the showerhead, and the water cascaded down, instantly soaking his body.

It trickled down his neck, flowed across his collarbones, his chest, his tight and explosive abdomen, his broad back, his firm, lifted buttocks, and his strong, slender legs, before finally gathering on the floor with a lingering reluctance.

Mist quickly filled the bathroom, making his wet body loom indistinctly through the steam.

Nowadays, almost anyone with a bit of money paid close attention to personal hygiene, and some even had mild germaphobia.

As it happened, he was someone with a slight touch of cleanliness obsession. Consequently, the entire bathroom was immaculate, pristine, and white.

He lathered shower gel into his hair, washed it, and then applied the gel all over his body, scrubbing himself thoroughly. Only then did he rinse away the foam from his head and body, wiping himself down briefly. Wrapping a bath towel around his waist and grabbing a dry towel from the rack, he stepped out of the bathroom while drying himself.

A brocade box lay quietly on the jet-black bedsheets.

Opening the box, he found a delicate tie clip inside. It was very high-end, entirely unlike the cheap trinket she had claimed it to be.

Although such a minor item probably meant little to him, he knew Lin Xia's family background. This sum of money was by no means insignificant for them.

To spend such an amount on this gift showed that she had truly put considerable thought into it.

Toying with the tie clip, Jin Ye lay on the bed and thought quietly.

Closing his eyes, he seemed once again to catch the faint, intoxicatingly warm fragrance.

The window remained unclosed, and a breeze blowing in from outside seemed to carry a trace of that bewitching, subtle scent.

His breathing grew steadier, and his eyelids felt heavier and heavier. Clutching the tie clip, he drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

Where is this place?

Mist billowed everywhere, a vast expanse of white. It obscured the scenery on both sides and hid the path ahead, leaving only a winding, narrow footpath curving into the distance.

Jin Ye frowned as he walked forward.

He had no idea how long he had walked, nor how far he had gone.

At last, the white mist dissipated, revealing a palace before his eyes—archaic, majestic, and showing clear signs of great age.

Yet why would such a palace appear so abruptly in a place like this?

Jin Ye felt a flicker of doubt and turned to retrace his steps, only to discover that the path he had taken had vanished, leaving nothing but an endless sea of white mist that made it impossible to distinguish directions.

Ascending the stone steps, Jin Ye pushed open the heavy doors of the palace.

The cavernous room was supported solely by numerous stone pillars. Between the pillars drifted layers upon layers of gossamer-thin, cloud-white silk curtains, stacked one after another, creating a completely hazy world.

Pushing aside a gauze curtain that blew against his face, Jin Ye stepped further inside.

After walking only a few paces, he suddenly caught the faint, distant sound of running water.

Jin Ye paused, cocked his head to listen intently, and, following the sound of water, stepped deeper into the sanctum.

The further he went, the stronger that fragrance became—now existing just on the edge of perception, driving one into a gentle intoxication.

When he parted the final layer of gossamer curtain, the sight before him left Jin Ye momentarily stunned.

Before him lay an enormous bathing pool.

It was massive because it could easily accommodate over a hundred people—even larger than the outdoor swimming pool at his own home. Spring water spilled from the mountain wall, slowly feeding into the basin.

The surface of the water was veiled in a thin layer of mist, and the moonlight cast a silvery glow across the water, making it look like an immortal realm.

Leaning against the mountain wall amidst the swirling mist, Jin Ye finally realized that this palace had actually been built right into the mountain!

A rustic beauty couch stood there, upon which reclined a beauty with sloping shoulders and a slender waist.

Because her back was turned to him, he could not see her face, but he could tell without a doubt that she was a stunning beauty.

Dressed in a pure white gauze dress, her dark hair draped over one shoulder, she exuded an air of lazy, leisurely grace.

Just a view of her back alone carried such mesmerizing allure.

The beauty slowly rose, moving with a graceful, light-dancing fluidity that was extraordinarily alluring.

She stepped leisurely into the water, the sound of the splashing water ringing clearly beside his ear.

A gentleman does not gaze upon impropriety.

Jin Ye wanted to turn and leave, but at that moment, a gentle breeze swept by, carrying waves of warm fragrance from the water's surface—the very same scent he had never smelled anywhere else.

The beauty was still facing away from him as she slowly untied her sash, revealing shoulders as white and smooth as jade.

Since she was already undressing, never mind a warm fragrance, even if it were some miraculous heavenly scent, he could no longer stay.

Having made up his mind, Jin Ye turned around.

At that instant, something dropped from his hair, striking the jade-paved floor with a crisp, distinct sound.

"Who's there?!" Startled, the woman whipped around sharply.

At last, Jin Ye clearly saw her face—

—It was her!